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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25436041">Rings</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ekumar96/pseuds/Ekumar96'>Ekumar96</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst with a Happy Ending, Domestic rowing, F/M, Harsh Language, Kisses, romione</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 07:01:59</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,817</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25436041</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ekumar96/pseuds/Ekumar96</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A row about payments turn bad real quick for Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. will they overcome it?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley, romione - Relationship</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>20</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Rings</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I do not own any character in this fic, they belong to J.K Rowling. This is a fic I made for the Romione Fic Fest 2020 on Tumblr. Hope you check it out, and I hope you like it. Also I want to give thanks to Amy The-Wise-One for being my Beta for this. I can't explain how grateful I am for all your help and ideas you shared with me. Thanks again.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Title: Rings</p>
<p>Prompt: Bonus Day - Kisses<br/>Rated: T<br/>Brief Summary: A row about payments turns bad real quick for Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. Will they overcome it?<br/>Content Warning: harsh language, domestic rowing, angst with a positive ending.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><br/>Set out in front of his seat at the dining room table are two past due payment notices. For whatever reason, their council tax wasn’t paid and they had a past-due notice from the Utility company. ‘Bloody Hell! How did I miss paying these? I swear I paid them the last time I was in Gringott’s,’ says the very annoyed redhead, as he proceeds to slam them down in front of him while running a hand through his shaggy hair. 'And I know I mailed off the utility bill the day after you left. I don’t know why that past due notice was sent.’</p>
<p><br/>‘We shouldn’t have to pay these interest fees if you would’ve paid them on time when I told you to,’ said the bushy-haired witch. </p>
<p><br/>‘Oi, it’s not my fault. I did pay them. I’m not the only one that has to pay the bills around-’ his words were cut short by the deadly glare his fiancee is giving him. </p>
<p><br/>‘I pay bills too, Ron, and might I just add that it was your turn to pay since I was away on a business trip, not some fancy holiday. I told you before you made the payment to make sure you're listed as a representative for the account.' </p>
<p><br/>'I did check ahead of time, why don’t you trust me, it's like you think I can't take care of it on my own’, he retorts. </p>
<p><br/>‘Don’t make this about trust, you know I trust you. Maybe you forgot to send the payment because you had other plans. 'Tell me what you were doing while I was gone?’ She puts her finger to her mouth and bites her pink lip, pretending to think for a moment. ‘Oh yes, you decided to go with Seamus to a Quidditch match and drink the weekend away! Then you got so bloody pissed that you went on a spending splurge and bought almost every piece of ridiculous Quidditch gear, memorabilia, and posters you can think of,’ Hermione fired back with so much bite that Ron thought she was going to hex him any minute. </p>
<p><br/>He rolls his eyes then looks at the table linen, just now noticing that it’s so torn and stained that you can barely call it a tablecloth. Shaking his head, he lets out a moan, ‘Come off it, why can’t you let it go? You already told me off for going in the first place. It was the Cannons vs Puddlemere, championship game, and guess what? After they got rid of that rubbish manager as I said, you know who won? The bloody Cannons won. I’ve waited my entire life to see that happen. I thought I’d never see it. And I don’t regret going with Seamus… well, maybe a little since we got pissed and he got sick on me but other than that I had an amazing fucking time and yes, I bought some things so what? I work two bloody jobs to afford a few fun things.' The Auror leans back on the uneven chair and glares back at the woman in front of him, basically challenging her to come up with something else to say. ‘Going to the championship match with him was a once in a lifetime opportunity.’</p>
<p><br/>'Oh Merlin, I can’t even take a break here,' he tells himself. It’s not like she has actually been wanting to be near him for the past few months, well technically it’s been a few weeks but it feels like it’s a lot longer. She would find some sort of excuse to occupy her time, at first. ‘I didn’t think much of it, telling myself she’s been working longer hours.’ However, it didn’t stop there. She would bring so much work home with her that our flat felt more like an office rather than a home. He surveys the room, seeing all of the bright orange memorabilia clashing with the piles of books and parchment all over the place. He grumbles under his breath. The only thing left to get is one of those muggle paper dispensers that give you a number since it’s obvious that he has to arrange some sort of appointment for his petite curly-haired witch to even look his way, he tells himself bitterly.</p>
<p><br/>‘If you had such an amazing time with Seamus, then why don’t you tell him that you’ll be having a blast bunking in his hotel room he’s renting, oh and also tell him next time you decide to go to a Quidditch Match with him that you might as well buy the whole stadium since you are not capable of being a man that remembers his responsibilities or common knowledge to be an adult!’ she explodes, not realizing she crossed a thin line.</p>
<p><br/>As she gets up from the chair, she knocks it back into the wall with force and crosses her arms against her chest. She turns back to him while shaking her head and tries to discreetly wipe the moisture from her eyes, with a frown and despising the fact that every single time they’ve had a blazing row it always ends the same. No matter how many years she has known the piercing blue-eyed occasionally insufferable git, the outcome of a row is practically the same, with her crying like she was 11 and overheard a boy call her insufferable. She always believed that their rows hurt her worse than any curse thrown her way; even her torture at the hands of the most sadistic woman in the wizarding world hurt her heart less. Why couldn’t he follow-through without her supervision?</p>
<p><br/>Only the ticking of the grandfather clock was the only noise in the entire flat. Seconds turned into minutes, he can’t believe she said that to him. Why can’t she see how her words stabbed him straight through his heart. It's like she transformed from his beautiful fiance to the taunting ghost-like figure he destroyed years ago. </p>
<p><br/>He realized right then that nothing is the same, not like it used to be. He reached up to rub his eyes and found his face wet with tears. She knew about his insecurities but for her to tell him he’s not man enough made him think back to the one nightmare memory. He was a failure. What he never could overcome is finally getting the better of him. He’s frozen to the chair, just staring at her back in utter silence. Noticing every minuscule detail of her, every single curve on her tiny body that he is immensely crazy for. To every chaotic chocolate curl on her head, the way her shoulders are hunched and shaking, making her look even smaller than she actually is. He sits there, soaking in every single detail, trying to memorize everything, fearing that if he blinks, the woman of his dreams would vanish.</p>
<p><br/>Slowly getting up with tears streaming down his now bloodshot eyes making it hard to distinguish whether his eyes are blue or red. Wringing his hands together, he takes a deep breath and tries to not let out a choked sigh.</p>
<p><br/>Why did the locket have to be right? All those nights when he wore it because he knew that the rhythm of the heartbeat emitting from that locket just there taunting him, night after night. It wasn’t there to protect her from that evil. It wasn’t to have her avoid wearing it for one moment because he felt she shouldn’t be mentally tortured by that bloody object. No. The reason he wore that damn thing more was that he knew, deep in the pit of his heart, he wasn’t man enough to be in her life, not good enough to even have a place to call home.</p>
<p><br/>His voice failing repeatedly,  Ron finally finds his voice. ‘I n-never t-thought…,’ damn it, why when I decide to talk I’m failing to even say words correctly, he thinks to himself. Trying again and he wipes his eyes hard with his hands and takes a deep breath. ‘I never thought… you felt that way. I’m so… sorry to disappoint you,’ he tells her, trying his hardest to not break down. ‘I know I made the payment, but maybe I messed up when I sent it. I won’t tell Seamus anything but I’ll leave if that’s what you want. Everything is pointless if you’re not in my life and if you don’t think I’m man enough for you then… well, I’ll get a few of my things.’ He looked up, piercing her with a bereft expression. ‘Keep the ring I bought for you because from what I know… you need a man to stand up to you and for you and love you and I’m not the one for you since I don’t… know how to act like a… man… or an adult.' His voice leaves him practically wheezing out each word like it inflicted physical pain to him. He grabs onto the table almost as if it’s the only thing that is helping him stand up as he weeps. He didn’t notice the woman he loves had stopped shaking and had turned around and is now staring at him with so much anguish.  </p>
<p><br/>It finally dawns on her that when she said he wasn’t man enough she never meant it. Once again, her anger got the best of her. She needed him and he was spending so much time with Seamus and didn’t have time for her. Since Seamus said he knew someone who could get them tickets to the championship tournament and back to catch up with her fiance, she’s barely had any alone time with him. She’s had no time, let alone any time in general with him because of all the work the ministry is pushing on her. </p>
<p><br/>She is shocked to the core of the way she sees his knuckles, white as snow as he grips the table for dear life. Tears are pouring down her eyes as she gives up holding them back, she wants to, no, she needs to show him she loves him and that she won’t give him back the ring he gave her when they went on a trip with her parents to Australia when he proposed to her. She has to make him understand that he means the world to her. Why is it so complicated when it could be simple? He is a man, she is fully aware of that aspect, but why did I say the opposite? Oh Merlin, why did I have to make him doubt himself. Finding her voice, she tells him in broken sobs, ‘I never meant to say those things to you, I love you so bloody much..' - whatever she was going to say next was cut short from the look he gave her.</p>
<p><br/>It was the same look he gave her before he left the hunt on that rainy night - cold and emotionless, nothing else showing in those beautiful deep blue eyes that she loves almost more than his freckles. She then sees his guard go down and thinks that she might have broken down the barrier that was put up when she first began rowing with him.</p>
<p><br/>‘It’s not that simple, you… you can’t act like things are fine if you apologize.  As the muggles say, ‘actions speak louder than words,’ he replies back and takes a moment to breathe then says, ‘I’m tired of this, Hermione, so tired. I don’t think I can do this anymore. Every time we row, you expect me to apologize, to say sorry when I’m not at fault. Why can’t you ever say, ‘I made a mistake,’ or ‘Let’s see what happened and sort it out,’ not yanking my bollocks for a mistake? If I want that, I’ll go back to work and hear it from them.’ He heaves a desperate sigh. ‘It’s not like I’ve not been a bastard too, saying shite when I’m upset, but you went too far this time. I won’t be your house-elf, kicking me when things go wrong.’ He sighs again, ‘I think it’s best if we go our separate- ‘</p>
<p><br/>‘No!’ she interrupts. </p>
<p><br/>She lets go of her hand, the one fidgeting with her engagement ring that he spent quite a few galleons on for her and walks to stand under his chin, looking up at him. She had one chance to save everything they’d worked for, one risk to take to admit how much she cocked up and how she was going to fix things between them. </p>
<p><br/>She had to admit how painfully wrong she was.</p>
<p><br/>He was worth it, wasn’t he? All of the times he backed down, swallowing his pride so she could feel right, all of the times he put aside his needs for her, just so she could belittle him over a late council tax payment? She was going to blow apart everything over 5 galleons? Was 5 galleons all their relationship was worth?</p>
<p><br/>How many times did he stay in with her, saving money to afford this flat, affording the occasional nice thing she asked for? How many months did he pull extra shifts with George to afford the ring on her finger, forgoing almost every bit of fun to afford their flat, a few holidays together? He did so much for their relationship because of the future they wanted together.</p>
<p><br/>Why did she get so angry over something so petty, so trivial? What was it that made her explode over something so pointless and say terrible things to her fiance?</p>
<p><br/>If they were to marry, she absolutely needed to work on herself, her temper, her sharp edges that hurt others. She had to quit lashing out at him, the one who supported her ambition completely.</p>
<p><br/>He has done so much for us so why can’t I admit I’m wrong and do my part? </p>
<p><br/>She lets go of her hand and closes the distance that was made between them and grabs his face and brings her plump lips up to his soft ones and kisses him so hard that she thinks that her lips will bruise. If it does it wouldn’t matter. She can’t let him go even if he isn’t kissing back at first. He is still as a rock but when she lightly bites his lips he seems to come alive and kisses her with so much intensity he forgets all about the wizarding world they live in and only focused on how much he missed this. He almost forgot how amazing of a kisser she is, it's been too bloody long. Every time their lips meet it sends him teetering on the brink of insanity, he can’t get enough.</p>
<p><br/>Wait, no, this won’t be fixed with snogging like any other row, he thinks. 'Hermione,' he gently pulls her face back from his, seeing the tear tracks on her face. 'Kissing me won’t make the problem go away, not this time.'</p>
<p><br/>She stops, taking a very deep breath. 'Ron, I know we need to talk. I needed you to know that what I said was wrong and I made a terrible mistake. I said something that wasn’t true and said it out of anger and frustration when I shouldn’t have done so. You are the best thing in my life and I would be a right foul git to throw it away over 5 galleons. And you have every right to be hurt. I said things that I shouldn’t, especially when it wasn’t honest.’</p>
<p><br/>Ron sits back down in the chair, almost eye height to her standing. She instead kneels down, looking up at him. 'I’ll do whatever it takes, including making an appointment tomorrow with a Healer. I never want to lose you. I did once and it was the worst time in my life. I don’t want a repeat of it again, especially when it’s my fault. I’m sorry.’ She drops her head down, not looking him in the eyes. ‘I need to learn to not hurt you when I’m frustrated. Taking my frustration out on you is wrong.’</p>
<p><br/>He reaches out to her, lifting her chin. 'OK. I’m willing to do everything as well.’</p>
<p><br/>An owl taps on the window, breaking the moment. ‘I’ll get it,’ Hermione gets up and goes to the window, collecting a bit of mail from the owl. Hermione tears it open, reading quickly. A sardonic laugh breaks the silence.. ‘It’s from the Utility company. It seems that it got lost in their mailroom for a fortnight. The post stamp on the envelope was the day I left.’ Hermione turned and her face was tomato red. ‘I was wrong to doubt you.’ </p>
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